South Korea's '5G' Curling Team Eyes Historic Gold at Milan-Cortina

Forget "Team Kim." A new squad called "5G" is ready to make history.

South Korea's women's curling team launches its Olympic campaign on Feb. 12 against the United States in the round-robin opener at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, seeking the country's first-ever curling gold medal.

The Gyeonggi Provincial Office team—comprising skip Kim Eun-ji, third Kim Min-ji, second Kim Su-ji, lead Seol Ye-eun, and fifth Seol Ye-ji—earned the nickname "5G" because four members' names end in "ji" and Seol Ye-eun's nickname is "pig" (dwaeji in Korean).

Currently ranked third in the world, 5G enters the Games with legitimate title credentials. The team claimed Korea's first-ever major championship and Grand Slam titles at the 2023-2024 Pan Continental Curling Championship and the Grand Slam "National." They swept to gold at the Harbin Asian Winter Games last year and secured their Olympic berth with a fourth-place finish at the World Championships in March.

A victory would mark Korea's first Olympic curling medal since Team Kim's silver at the 2018 PyeongChang Games eight years ago.

The team's greatest weapon is chemistry forged over years of competition. Skip Kim Eun-ji, a veteran of the 2014 Sochi Olympics, anchors a roster of elite specialists. The squad has built tight-knit cohesion through shared experiences including the disappointment of missing the 2022 Beijing Olympics.

Canada and Switzerland pose the biggest obstacles to gold. Canada, led by legendary skip Rachel Homan, won back-to-back World Championships in 2024 and 2025. Second-ranked Switzerland, captained by Silvana Tirinzoni, has consistently dominated international competitions.

The round-robin phase features nine matches, with the top four teams advancing to the semifinals. South Korea faces Canada in their final preliminary match on Feb. 19, with semifinals scheduled for Feb. 20.